jack.com.au

The local butcher fights back.

The large retailers have ruined many categories for small independent retailers. A few that spring to mind are:

butchers, fruit shops, magazines, dvds, alcohol, hardware,

but my local butcher is fighting back. Yesterday, the rump that he always bangs on about being the best in Oz because of the ways its hung (I think the carcass is hung from the other way up) was only $24 a kilo. They are also staying open till 7pm (longer hours but not much more profit - yet).

I really like my local butcher shop, although I would like a printed receipt as I like to analyse what things cost when I get home. One local is too cosy though, so I like to go to another one in a nearby suburb that has better sausages. It also keeps me a bit more at arms length from my butchers, cause I just want to be their customer, and not a best buddy. I'm not telling them about my botched vasectomy.

According to Choice, chilled  beef mince can now be stored for up to 44 days and cuts of lamb for up to 112. Some supermarkets still have their own butchery, but there’s a trend (following the US and UK) to distribute pre-butchered meat from a central location. It’s then either vacuum-packed or placed in special modified atmosphere packs for display. The gases used for these packs are carbon dioxide and nitrogen – carbon dioxide inhibits growth of micro-organisms and nitrogen is an inert filler.

My wife bought some supermarket mince a few months ago (I was livered) and it had a real weird smell when I opened it. Now I know why - it was probably 43 days old. We are supposed to use mince within a day, not 7 weeks.

I am sure the local butcher has a few little tricks as well, and he sure must use a lot of cling wrap, but I refuse to buy supermarket meat and I'm proud of that fact. Not even the specials. They will never change me - not even with chicken. You big guys have got enough of my money already.

Who gives a toss about the 6 o'clock news.

Once upon a time the six o'clock news was gospel. Such were the glory days when the TV networks had such control. Nowadays, it seems they are not so relevent, as the ratings slowly begin to wither away. I guess that as the elderly die, it will mean an even a smaller percentage of penetration of the population.

I've got to admit that I gave away the commercial networks a long time ago. Not enough international news, and the disdain of sitting throught the ads. The abc's 7 o'clock news was well suited to me and I watched it like a hawk.

About a month ago, I was pressed for time and knew I couldn't fit the news in, so I whipped over to the abc website and got everything I needed in about 8 minutes - saving me 22 minutes. Must admit that I had already grazed over the news throughout the day on the laptop at work and could also have used the phone if I had been say waiting at the dentist.

On the day of the Christchurch earthquake, I was again busy, but was really going to push myself to get home for the 7 o'clock news when I realised, relax, I can watch it 4 times if I want on the new 24 news channel. I watched the nine o clock news and there was no need to own Foxtel.

Newspapers have already had to face this dilemma, but it appears now it is the time for the TV networks to face the facts. We already know the news, well before 6  o'clock and we probably have a more up to date status than they do, thanks to radio, twitter, smartphones and the plethora of news sources they provice us.

So as newspapers begin to rest in peace, TV prime time news services are taking in water.

Wesfarmers V Woolies - a battle royale.

Just witnessed an ad on TV for $2 for 2 litres of milk at Coles. (just did research and found out Woolies and Aldi are matching this). At first I thought great, as this is 50 cents off and they're saying its not just a special but their everyday price. Then I thought about the poor bastards trying to run milk bars - surely their days are numbered. And what about the dairy farmers. Now Coles may say that their are millionaire dairy farmers, but I don't know any.  All I know is that they get up very early and need to be there every day of the year, including freezing cold winters. Then there are truck drivers and processors. So in the last few months milk has now come down about 33% in price. I pity the processors , because house brand milk is probably a break even proposition, with any profit made out of the branded stuff, that will now look considerably more exy.

Maybe Coles break even or possibly even lose money on this offer, but i highly doubt that. Since Wesfarmers took over the business, they have certainly shaken up the competition with smart marketing and some commonsense changes.

Some of the marketing I have noticed are:

- the $10 meals with Curtis Stone and then all the tie ins with Masterchef (Wesfarmers had already perfected TV sponsorship with Bunnings being all over Better Homes & Gardens like a rash)

- the hormone free beef (which has really pissed off much of the beef industry)

- now the $2 milk

Some of the stuff I have noticed at my local store are:

more open entrances, no coins required for trolleys, a slick little health food section, new bakers, fish shops and butchers that are no longer hidden away, but look like market stalls

I have even noticed they have painted white over some of the black out of the Coles headqurters in Hawthorn so it no longer looking like death Star.

While all this good news is happening, Woolworths is informing the market of downgrades and I guess they are really starting to get pissed off that their own turf is being threatened. "I know said the little boy - he threw a rock at me, so I shall throw a rock at him" And with that Woolies set about building a hardware chain to rival the massively successful Bunnings.

Anyone who has ever supplied Bunnings knows what a hard deal they can drive. If you want to play with the big boys, there are settlement discounts, advertising rebates and trading terms that include how many days notice you must give for a price rise (ie many).  If you're a dominant supplier in you segment of the market, they will find another guy who is on the way up, give him a big order of half the stuff you supply, and then a year later come back to you threatening that you will lose the business because they have just been offered an unbelieable deal.....and unless you can match it......its kapoot.

Dulux got too strong, so Bunnings introduced Nippon paints so as to "keep the bastards honest".

Ok, so now their is a new player with the Woolworths/Lowes project Oxygen consortium they may call Masters (so from here on in i'll call it Masters, and then come back and edit this post if a new name comes along). Masters are starting to talk to many of Bunnings suppliers, and Bunnings apparently begun threatening some of these suppliers (no, thats illegal, so lets just say bullying). For many suppliers, they secretly hope Masters is a raging success. They are sick of bing dictated to by someone who has such a huge market share in so many categories. Get kicked out of Bunnings now and you face a life of dribbling out the dregs to Mitre 10s and Home Hardwares. But with 150 Masters stores, you start to get a bit of leverage back.

Ok, so I need to be careful that someone from Bunnings isn't one of the 7 weekly readers of this not yet famous jack.com.au blog (that was a shameless plug for the jack.com.au blog)(that was another one) or I might get sued for defamation. This week however Woolworths submitted a complaint against Bunnings to the ACCC, whingeing about some issues with suppliers. Rather makes them look like Dobbers, but Bunnings do seem like they may be getting a tad rattled.

So while these two giants battle with each other and take more of every doller out of Australia I want you other 6 readers to think about where you spend your money. There is nothing more satisfying for me than to once a month drive up to the StKilda Farmers Market, park for free in the Safeway (or is it Woolworths ?) carpark and proceed to spend my $100 on little guys and girls who drive for four hours and sell me some of the best damn free range chicken I have ever eaten, along with apple juice, almonds and all things in season. So what if they don't pay tax. I bet Wes and Woolie have teams of tax minimisation experts.

Its not just Farmers markets though, lets make a list of em: Total Tools, Mobil , Richies, plumbing and electrical stores, Best For Less. Actually I should mention any campanies as who knows who is a good citizen to support. I'll just have to shop overseas online stores! - powdered milk.

Do everything you can to support the independents. Never buy a paper or magazine at a supermarket because it is always going to be the same price as the newsagents, and if the guy in the independent bottle shop is $3 more for the same slab of beer, can't you occasionally give him the business, so one day he is not gone. Look at what the supermarkets in England did with DVDs - they killed off all the competition and then put the prices back up.

No newspaper, radio or TV station is ever going to tell you any of this, cause the 2 big wubyas spend so much money with them. If anything, they will help spread the propaganda. So you will never hear a rant like this in mainstream media. Look, at the end of the day, I do spend a bit with the majors, and they do offer employment and shareholder returns, but can't we just spread the love around a bit more - whatever happened to competition,  oh yeah, they bought it out, killed it off or leave it there cause its just a small store and it looks like competition.

Meanwhile, "shall no dairy farmer should ever live in poverty".

Movie Review - The Tourist

3.8 stars

It was with mild anticipation that we headed along to see this flick. I had read a review that said nice scenery and beautiful actors to look at but not much else. What about the director, I thought. Anyone with the name Florian Maria Georg Christian Graf Henckel von Donnersmarck would have to know how to direct movies.

For me it was a lot more than that although it must be said, that having never been to Venice, I loved seeing the place, including the gorgeous wooden boats that were in immaculate nick.

Worth a read - 1

Just a few links of stories that are worth a read:

When the Gold Coast lost its shine.

Don't fancy a pint? UK introduces new beer size.

Trial to eliminate deadly Dengue begins

Beware buying a used vw from and old lady.

A gutless blogger.

Copy of an email sent to me from Jack management yeaterday:

So nothings been added to the jack blog since the 17th of the twelth O10. Well we had an excuse. There was no internet connection at dads, yes there was but it was a dongle from Telstra and it needed loading; the "missus" didn't want me on the computer; I didn't know the password to the dongle and besides, I was too busy getting the toothpaste back into the tube that had been over-exertly pushed out.

Poppy Cock.....We, the team here at jack.com.au were too fricking gutless to think up a reputable story, connect any way possible, and type in a few words of jibber.

If we don't enter a story soon, at least in the next month, this blog will officially lose any integrity it had built up to the 2 users who had consumed our content. This will cause a downward spiral in traffic and force  management to curtail our services. Would someone therfore enter some jibe by the end of January - nothing else can save us. Maybe a new years eve "fireworks from around the world" story. Anything.

signed,

Slack Bastard

Cricket - every Aussie bloke is an expert.

This week, every second Australian has had an opinion on the Australian cricket team. All you amateurs who can't agree, shouldn't be too fussed, cause the shit that has come out of every second ex-cricket players mouths this week beggars belief.

That's right, Terry Alderman, Dean Jones, Steve Waugh, Mark Taylor, Shane Warne, Mark Waugh, Brad Hodge and a host of others have all told us how to pick the Australian team including what a disgrace it was that Mitchell Johnnson got repicked and how that the youngsters shouldn't have been picked but that the 29 year olds are too old.

Sometimes I wish they would just shut the f. up and just watch it like the rest of us. Ah, but umm, when I watch it, I tell those others around me what line this bowler should be bowling, or that Michael Clarke should have let that particular delivery go that he chopped on to his stumps.

Hmmm, so we are all experts, yet none of us really have a clue as to what will happen next. Just shut up and watch it Australia.

Watson seemed sure of himself today - unlike the rest of us.

more wicked keyboards and

Tall poppy syndrome plays its part in Victorian state election.

We Victorians down here (ok, some of you call us Mexicans) have just had a state election on the weekend and there is a plethora of reasons why the Liberal/Nationals look likely to take government. Why did Labour lose power? The state has a good credit rating and is in a much better positon financially than NSW. The leader John Brumby didn't seem to offend too many people - or did he? That trait that we shouldn't allow to happen, happened. We needed to cut him down just like we cut down down Jeff Kennett - and that is all because of the tall poppy syndrome.

Yes, as soon as famous people started to support Brumby the foundations began to crack. First, there was the one too many appearances on the average rating MMM breakfast show with good mate Eddie McG, both avid Collingwood men, proud their team had won the grand final. Roll that in with one particular show with Eddie and Shane Warne, and then head off to a crumbling sports groung with Shane and pledge nearly 20 million to fix it and then  name the place after Warnie. You could feel a collective cringe when Shane was asked whom he would vote for.

Next to roll out was Olivia Newton John, but was she co-erced into supporting the Brumby campaign? You see Brumby was pledging $44.7 million for the final stage of the Olivia Newton-John Cancer and Wellness Centre. Don't get me wrong, as this is a fine thing to do. But it made one think that Olivia had no choice but to support Brumby as premier.

So here he was, flirting with the rich and famous while the trains were breaking down. He just needed to wheel out Bob Hawke for a bit of criticism of the opposition and all bases would be covered. Whoops, yes he did do that.

Meanwhile, Ted Baillieu, the opposition leader was just being low key, keeping the message consistent and generally being a nice guy. He did fire up a tad when he threatened to sue Labour for some misleading commercials, but that probably didn't help him, other than to show he believed he was an hoourable person. Sometimes though , it is this belief in yourself that people want to hear, whether it is true or not. Of course we all now know he is honourable because the day after the election we saw hime swimmimg with the icebergers on a very cold morning. No one dishonourable would be bothered to do a thing like that.

The tall poppy thing didn't just affect Brumby, but filtered down to at least one of his standing members being Australian Olympic skier Kirsty Marshall, member for Forest Hills. Kirsty chose not to live in her electorate and may not have been as accessible as some of the local constituents would have liked, particualarly with some controversial property developments taking place. I don't have a problem with famous people being used as politicians, but I do have a problem with them not living in their own constituancy. Ok, so Richmond was more convenient for her to get to parliament, but maybe if she had got there by public transport from Forest Hills, some of the realities of her governmnet might have become clearer.

Of course asking  a Melbourne Grammer boy to live in Broadmeadows might be a bit of a challenge, although you could buy the best house house there for the money Brumby would have been on. The slap in the face must have been the fact he voted in upper class Prahan. I am sure that if the voters in Broadmeadows had known that he would do this on election day, then the swing in his seat would have been much greater than 11%.

This brings me to something I am hoping a "real" journo with more resources than me can do, and that is to form a list of where all politicians live in relation to the seats they hold. If there is a large percentage of them that don't live in there own constituancy, then maybe we get them to make a law saying they should, then we can be more assured, that they truly represent the people.